Band-Aids Known as Friends
by lowi
Summary: Lorcan doesn't know why he's friend with Lily and Scorpius. Until he does. -In which they take a plane to Spain and Lorcan's sure it was in vain. /M&MWP /The 2012 Hogwarts Games /Pairing Diversity Boot Camp /For Morghen


_A/N: Written for both __The 2012 Hogwarts Games__ (event: Swimming – Breaststroke 1000-2000) and the __Pairing Diversity Boot Camp Challenge__ (prompt 18: forever). Both of these are found at the __HPFC__ forum._

_Many thanks to my beta-reader mew-tsubaki!_

_Dedicated to __Morghen__ as a belated birthday present._

* * *

**Band-Aids Known as Friends**

"He hasn't lit it," came the muffled voice from beneath a shirt even before the flight attendant had said a word.

"Well, but…," she began, causing the muffled voice to rise and interrupt her successfully.

"He won't do it either."

Meanwhile, Lorcan's round eyes indicated that he had grasped something was going on, as he took his earphones off. "Sorry, is there a problem?" he asked quietly.

"No, Lorc, never mind," the muffled voice said, still hidden under layers of fabric.

The flight attendant said (in a tone that suggested she at least would try and make it sound as though she had gotten the last word in the argument), "Well, he better not."

Lorcan pulled the shirt off his friend's head when the woman had left down the narrow aisle, finding Scorpius rolling his eyes. "Just go back to chewing that cig without lighting it, and it'll all be fine, bud," the older boy said. "Now, I really need to catch up on my sleep, so just sit there quietly without waking me unless I'm drooling or someone's hijacking the plane."

Lorcan carefully put the hoodie on top of his friend again, earning a half-hearted thumbs-up in response, and then he returned to sucking on the end of the unlit cigarette. If he closed his eyes and made his hair fall in his face, it almost was like smoking, because his bangs smelled of smoke and the papery touch against his lips was…kind of the same.

But still, it was not. And there was three hours left until he'd be smoking for real. He could just hope he'd fall asleep or something, and then the flight would be over, feeling as though merely minutes had passed.

But then a bony finger poked him in the back, and he knew that the chance of getting some sleep would be very rare with Lily in the seat behind him. A bored Lily, that is. "Hey, Lorc," she said, and Lorcan already dreaded what she would say because her voice had that witty edge to it—not to mention it was far too loud to be part of a regular conversation.

"What?"

"I've figured it out. You're not at all addicted to nicotine—you're addicted to sucking."

Lorcan felt as though something got stuck in his throat.

Lily, however, grinned as if she had won the Quidditch World Cup. As she opened her mouth to say something else (equally embarrassing, as if Lorcan's cheeks weren't glaring red already), Scorpius' voice once again disrupted the peace. "Lily, dearest, I must point out that you're the only one in this company who is attracted to pussy rather than to cock, so you've lost even before I begin arguing with you."

Lorcan really hated his friends sometimes. He tried to sink lower in his seat, without meeting the looks of the other travelers. It was going to be such a long three hours, he thought as he heard Lily's and Scorpius' banter become louder and more and more ridden with obscenities.

But he didn't want to arrive either, so maybe the banter was a good thing.

* * *

"It's so hot!" Scorpius exclaimed as they stepped out of the airport at last. Lily's bag had taken ages to arrive and, when it had arrived, she had insisted that she needed to make sure nothing was lost. "It could too be the reason for it not arriving," she had said to Scorpius, who had finally given up convincing her and slumped down in a chair.

Lorcan hadn't wanted to go out alone to find somewhere to smoke, so as he now finally could do it, it was with fumbling fingers that he found his lighter.

Lily looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Man, you really need to get laid. Before, you never smoked this much—"

Before Lorcan could respond (what he would have responded, he didn't know), Scorpius inserted a sound that resembled an angry penguin's squeak. "Isn't that what we're here for?" he continued. "You don't have to rub it in all the time."

"I'm not rubbing anything in! You don't have to be such a pushover; he won't take offense."

"I'm not a pushover—I'm just tactful! You're being your usual insensitive self even though he just got dumped—"

"I know that, for Merlin's sake! Forgive me for trying to lighten the mood a bit."

Lorcan cleared his throat. "Should we find a taxi, or what?"

Both of them turned their heads so quickly he thought their necks would snap. "Yeah," they said in chorus, and it actually gave Lorcan some comfort to see that they both blushed slightly.

It took a while, but when they had managed to explain to the driver in very broken Spanish (and Lily had cursed herself for not being friends with Hugo and Tim instead—and Scorpius had pointed out that she wouldn't be here, in that case) where they were going, Lorcan realized where they were heading.

"I'm not—" he began, catching both Lily's and Scorpius' attention immediately. Being the quietest one had its advantages; when he did speak, they listened. "I don't think this is a good idea," he finished, turning to stare out the window.

He could sense Scorpius looking at him with those "Understanding Eyes" he had worn whenever he'd tried to get Lorcan to eat or to talk or anything in the past few weeks. Those were the same eyes that in the end had won Lorcan over, making him agree on this trip, together with Lily's nagging—which was bound to erupt any second now. He knew it.

"So we've travelled this far for nothing, then?" Lily said, and Lorcan heard Scorpius hitting her shoulder and whispering something in a very angry voice to her.

And soon it turned into another loud argument, and Lorcan's thoughts of how he wanted to go home and lay in his bed and sulk instead of doing what he was doing right now were all drowned in it.

* * *

"I can't do it."

"Yes, you can!" Lily said, grabbing the cigarette packet out of Lorcan's hands. "And no more 'just one more fag, then I'll do it.' You've had five already."

"But, I can't," Lorcan repeated, knowing his tone was on the verge of desperate.

"You're such a chicken. Just knock on the bloody door and make him realize what the hell he gave up."

Lorcan sank down against the wall, but it took no more than seconds until Scorpius had hauled him up on his feet again. "Seriously, man. Just go in there. Just…talk to him."

Lorcan swallowed. "But there was a reason he dumped me—maybe I should just leave him alone." This time he was certain he sounded desperate, but he couldn't care less.

"Fred is an idiot, Lorc," Lily said, emphasizing "idiot" heavily, before making a face. "No offense, but I don't know why anyone would screw him…"

"Well, you don't understand why people would screw any males, so maybe you aren't the best to ask," Scorpius interrupted.

"Or maybe that makes me all the better to ask—maybe I'm unbiased," Lily answered, and it was on again.

Lorcan walked up to the door after taking a deep breath and, as he knocked, he heard their argument stop.

* * *

Lily's eyes shone, and Scorpius' smile was so bright in contrast to the badly lit place Fred was renting. "What did he say?" Lily asked, but then Scorpius' smile faltered and Lily, seconds later, rushed over to hug Lorcan.

"Is he…," Scorpius began, and Lorcan feared the blonde would actually explode. "What…" He ran a hand through his hair, before grabbing Lorcan's shoulders. "Tell me exactly what happened, and the chance I'll murder him is going to be much less likely."

Judging from the look on Scorpius' face, Lorcan feared he actually would murder Fred, so he quickly said, "Don't murder him, okay? We can just go home."

"No, you tell me. Now."

Lorcan swallowed, Lily's arms still wound around him. "I said 'hi.' He did, too. But in a more surprised tone than mine. And then he offered me a chair, so I said 'thanks.'"

"Get to the point, Lorc," Lily whispered in his ear. "Or I think Scorpius is gonna break the handle on his bag."

"Ehhh," Lorcan said, caught a bit off guard. "Well, he said that it had never seemed that I cared because I never expressed my feelings for him, and therefore he didn't think it was something that had mattered to me. And he had wanted a serious relationship."

Scorpius' eyes widened, but Lily's narrowed, and it was she who spoke. "And how did you respond then?" she asked slowly.

"I think…I said, 'All right. Bye, then.' And then I left."

Scorpius shook his head, mumbling something under his breath, before turning and storming in through the door that Lorcan had left ajar.

Lily's face seemed to harden as she got a very evil glint in her eye. She grabbed Lorcan's hand and dragged him in with her, following Scorpius in his tracks.

They arrived at Fred's kitchen just in time to see Scorpius pinning the dark boy to the wall. "You bloody wanker," he said in a low voice, which made Lorcan regret everything, every tiny moment that had led him to stand in this glum kitchen with an ex-boyfriend that hated him, a best friend that would screw everything up, and the ex-boyfriend's cousin who he knew would make everything even worse.

"What?" Fred asked, looking around himself helplessly.

"If there's one person, one person, on the entire earth, that cares. That loves—that loves you," Scorpius spat out, "it's Lorcan. And you tell him you want a serious relationship and that he doesn't seem to take it as seriously as you. What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"But—" Fred kept opening and closing his mouth, and suddenly he seemed to spot Lily and Lorcan standing in the doorway, as he tried even harder to wrestle free from Scorpius' grasp on him.

"Oh, let me answer that question," Scorpius said. "You're an idiot. You're stupider than a flobberworm, that's it."

"But—" Fred said again, but Scorpius didn't let him finish (and Lorcan doubted anyway that there was an end to that sentence).

"My original plan was that I'd go in here and make you realize that you need to get back together with Lorc, but you don't fucking deserve a piece of him."

Lily suddenly moved from where she had stood nailed to the floor next to Lorcan. "Calm down, Scor, you're gonna break his arms."

Scorpius looked confusedly at Lily before letting go of Fred with an awkward grimace. "But—" Fred said again, but this time it was Lily who interrupted.

"Seriously, though. I don't get how you can doubt Lorcan's feelings for you when he's travelled all the way here just to see you."

"But—" Fred's eyes met Lorcan's, and Lorcan took a deep breath.

"Can I talk to him alone, guys?"

* * *

It was the worst conversation Lorcan had had in his entire life. He had never blushed as much, not even when he'd told his parents he was gay or that time Fred had written him a song.

But it had been worth it, he thought, and when he had seen Fred's face lighten up in his not-quite-as-usual grin (much more nervous), he actually had been a bit proud of himself.

Scorpius had, of course, refused to speak a word to Fred, except for giving him some rather explicit threats of what he would do to Fred's balls if he ever hurt Lorcan again. And Lily had, of course, cooed and said, "And then they happily screwed each other forever after."

But, Lorcan decided, as he watched his and Fred's linked fingers, they still were the best friends in the world, because they had, undoubtedly, fixed him and Fred.


End file.
